25 Nov
2008
25 Nov
'08
9:07 a.m.
On 25 Nov 2008 at 3:03, David Griffith wrote:
Something I'd like to see is a serious effort to
get rid of phillips
screws. The damn things strip out easily, slip out easily, and require
considerable pushing. Hex screws are okay, but when they get tiny, they
too will strip easily. Square-head or torx would be best.
I once read an interview with the son of inventor Henry Phillips (an
Oregon native) and he maintained that it wasn't the original design
(US Patent 2046343) that was at fault, it was primarily the fault of
ASC for cheapening the manufacturing process by relaxing
specifications--and the propagation of inferior tools. Indeed, the
screwdrivers I have that are labeled "Genuine Phillips" do seem to be
quite a bit better than the generic variety. One aspect of the
Phillips head not shared by Torx or Robertson/square is that it will
automatically center the driving bit.
The "slipping out", I believe is referred to as "camming out".
While rebuilding a deck this summer, I found that even square-drive
screws are easy to strip when power is used to drive them.
Fortunately, deck screws are being manufactured with the Torx head
(mine were T25s) and allow for much better driving performance.
Cheers,
Chuck